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3. CSHTML to PDF (MVC Framework)

How to Convert Views to PDFs in ASP.NET MVC

by Chaknith Bin

A View is a component in the ASP.NET framework used for generating HTML markup in web applications. It is a part of the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern, commonly used in ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Core MVC applications. Views are responsible for presenting data to the user by rendering HTML content dynamically.

ASP.NET Web Application (.NET Framework) MVC is a web application framework provided by Microsoft. It follows a structured architectural pattern known as Model-View-Controller (MVC) to organize and streamline the development of web applications.

• Model: Manages data, business logic, and data integrity.
• View: Presents the user interface and renders information.
• Controller: Handles user input, processes requests, and orchestrates interactions between the Model and View.

IronPDF simplifies the process of creating PDF files from Views within an ASP.NET MVC project. This makes PDF generation easy and direct in ASP.NET MVC.

IronPDF Extension Package

The IronPdf.Extensions.Mvc.Framework package is an extension of the main IronPdf package. Both the IronPdf.Extensions.Mvc.Framework and IronPdf packages are required to render Views to PDF documents in an ASP.NET MVC.

PM > Install-Package IronPdf.Extensions.Mvc.Framework

Install with NuGet

Install-Package IronPdf.Extensions.Mvc.Framework

nuget.org/packages/IronPdf.Extensions.Mvc.Framework/

Render Views to PDFs

To convert Views into PDF files, you will need an ASP.NET Web Application (.NET Framework) MVC project.

Add a Model Class

• Navigate to the "Models" folder
• Create a new C# class file named "Person." This class will serve as a model to represent individual data. Use the following code snippet:

:path=/static-assets/pdf/content-code-examples/how-to/cshtml-to-pdf-mvc-framework-model.cs

namespace ViewToPdfMVCSample.Models
{
    public class Person
    {
        public int Id { get; set; }
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public string Title { get; set; }
        public string Description { get; set; }
    }
}

Namespace ViewToPdfMVCSample.Models
	Public Class Person
		Public Property Id() As Integer
		Public Property Name() As String
		Public Property Title() As String
		Public Property Description() As String
	End Class
End Namespace

Edit the Controller

Navigate to the "Controllers" folder and open the "HomeController" file. We are going to add the "Persons" action. Please refer to the code below for guidance:

In the provided code, the ChromePdfRenderer class is first created. To use the RenderView method, you'll need to provide it with an HttpContext, specify the path to the "Persons.cshtml" file, and provide a List containing the necessary data. When rendering the View, users have the option to utilize RenderingOptions to customize margins, add custom text and HTML headers and footers, and apply page numbers to the resulting PDF document.

using IronPdf;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using ViewToPdfMVCSample.Models;

namespace ViewToPdfMVCSample.Controllers
{
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            return View();
        }

        // GET: Person
        public ActionResult Persons()
        {
            var persons = new List<Person>
            {
            new Person { Name = "Alice", Title = "Mrs.", Description = "Software Engineer" },
            new Person { Name = "Bob", Title = "Mr.", Description = "Software Engineer" },
            new Person { Name = "Charlie", Title = "Mr.", Description = "Software Engineer" }
            };

            if (HttpContext.Request.HttpMethod == "POST")
            {
                // Provide the path to your View file
                var viewPath = "~/Views/Home/Persons.cshtml";

                ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

                // Render View to PDF document
                PdfDocument pdf = renderer.RenderView(this.HttpContext, viewPath, persons);

                Response.Headers.Add("Content-Disposition", "inline");

                // View the PDF
                return File(pdf.BinaryData, "application/pdf");
            }
            return View(persons);
        }

        public ActionResult About()
        {
            ViewBag.Message = "Your application description page.";

            return View();
        }

        public ActionResult Contact()
        {
            ViewBag.Message = "Your contact page.";

            return View();
        }
    }
}

using IronPdf;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Web.Mvc;
using ViewToPdfMVCSample.Models;

namespace ViewToPdfMVCSample.Controllers
{
    public class HomeController : Controller
    {
        public ActionResult Index()
        {
            return View();
        }

        // GET: Person
        public ActionResult Persons()
        {
            var persons = new List<Person>
            {
            new Person { Name = "Alice", Title = "Mrs.", Description = "Software Engineer" },
            new Person { Name = "Bob", Title = "Mr.", Description = "Software Engineer" },
            new Person { Name = "Charlie", Title = "Mr.", Description = "Software Engineer" }
            };

            if (HttpContext.Request.HttpMethod == "POST")
            {
                // Provide the path to your View file
                var viewPath = "~/Views/Home/Persons.cshtml";

                ChromePdfRenderer renderer = new ChromePdfRenderer();

                // Render View to PDF document
                PdfDocument pdf = renderer.RenderView(this.HttpContext, viewPath, persons);

                Response.Headers.Add("Content-Disposition", "inline");

                // View the PDF
                return File(pdf.BinaryData, "application/pdf");
            }
            return View(persons);
        }

        public ActionResult About()
        {
            ViewBag.Message = "Your application description page.";

            return View();
        }

        public ActionResult Contact()
        {
            ViewBag.Message = "Your contact page.";

            return View();
        }
    }
}

Imports IronPdf
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Imports System.Web.Mvc
Imports ViewToPdfMVCSample.Models

Namespace ViewToPdfMVCSample.Controllers
	Public Class HomeController
		Inherits Controller

		Public Function Index() As ActionResult
			Return View()
		End Function

		' GET: Person
		Public Function Persons() As ActionResult
'INSTANT VB NOTE: The local variable persons was renamed since Visual Basic will not allow local variables with the same name as their enclosing function or property:
			Dim persons_Conflict = New List(Of Person) From {
				New Person With {
					.Name = "Alice",
					.Title = "Mrs.",
					.Description = "Software Engineer"
				},
				New Person With {
					.Name = "Bob",
					.Title = "Mr.",
					.Description = "Software Engineer"
				},
				New Person With {
					.Name = "Charlie",
					.Title = "Mr.",
					.Description = "Software Engineer"
				}
			}

			If HttpContext.Request.HttpMethod = "POST" Then
				' Provide the path to your View file
				Dim viewPath = "~/Views/Home/Persons.cshtml"

				Dim renderer As New ChromePdfRenderer()

				' Render View to PDF document
				Dim pdf As PdfDocument = renderer.RenderView(Me.HttpContext, viewPath, persons_Conflict)

				Response.Headers.Add("Content-Disposition", "inline")

				' View the PDF
				Return File(pdf.BinaryData, "application/pdf")
			End If
			Return View(persons_Conflict)
		End Function

		Public Function About() As ActionResult
			ViewBag.Message = "Your application description page."

			Return View()
		End Function

		Public Function Contact() As ActionResult
			ViewBag.Message = "Your contact page."

			Return View()
		End Function
	End Class
End Namespace

Once you obtain the PdfDocument object through the RenderView method, you can make various improvements and adjustments to it. You can convert the PDF to PDFA or PDFUA formats, sign digital signature to the created PDF, or merge and split PDF documents as required. Moreover, the library enables you to rotate pages, insert annotations or bookmarks, and apply distinct watermarks to your PDF files.

Add a View

• Right-click on the newly added Person action and select "Add View."

• Choose "MVC 5 View" for the new Scaffolded item.

• Select the "List" template and the "Person" model class.

This will create a .cshtml file named "Persons."

• Navigate to the "Views" folder -> "Home" folder -> "Persons.cshtml" file.

To add a button that invokes the "Persons" action, use the code below:

@using (Html.BeginForm("Persons", "Home", FormMethod.Post))
{
    <input type="submit" value="Print Person" />
}

@using (Html.BeginForm("Persons", "Home", FormMethod.Post))
{
    <input type="submit" value="Print Person" />
}

Add a Section to the Top Navigation Bar

• In the "Views" folder, navigate to the "Shared" folder -> "_Layout.cshtml" file. Place the "Person" navigation item after "Home."

Ensure that the values for the ActionLink method match exactly with our file name, which in this case is "Persons."

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm navbar-toggleable-sm navbar-dark bg-dark">
    <div class="container">
        @Html.ActionLink("Application name", "Index", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "navbar-brand" })
        <button type="button" class="navbar-toggler" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target=".navbar-collapse" title="Toggle navigation" aria-controls="navbarSupportedContent"
                aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
            <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
        </button>
        <div class="collapse navbar-collapse d-sm-inline-flex justify-content-between">
            <ul class="navbar-nav flex-grow-1">
                <li>@Html.ActionLink("Home", "Index", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "nav-link" })</li>
                <li>@Html.ActionLink("Persons", "Persons", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "nav-link" })</li>
                <li>@Html.ActionLink("About", "About", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "nav-link" })</li>
                <li>@Html.ActionLink("Contact", "Contact", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "nav-link" })</li>
            </ul>
        </div>
    </div>
</nav>

<nav class="navbar navbar-expand-sm navbar-toggleable-sm navbar-dark bg-dark">
    <div class="container">
        @Html.ActionLink("Application name", "Index", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "navbar-brand" })
        <button type="button" class="navbar-toggler" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target=".navbar-collapse" title="Toggle navigation" aria-controls="navbarSupportedContent"
                aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
            <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
        </button>
        <div class="collapse navbar-collapse d-sm-inline-flex justify-content-between">
            <ul class="navbar-nav flex-grow-1">
                <li>@Html.ActionLink("Home", "Index", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "nav-link" })</li>
                <li>@Html.ActionLink("Persons", "Persons", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "nav-link" })</li>
                <li>@Html.ActionLink("About", "About", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "nav-link" })</li>
                <li>@Html.ActionLink("Contact", "Contact", "Home", new { area = "" }, new { @class = "nav-link" })</li>
            </ul>
        </div>
    </div>
</nav>

Run the Project

This will show you how to run the project and generate a PDF document.

Download ASP.NET MVC Project

You can download the complete code for this guide. It comes as a zipped file that you can open in Visual Studio as a ASP.NET Web Application (.NET Framework) MVC project.

Download the MVC sample project for PDF conversion

Chaknith Bin

Software Engineer

Chaknith is the Sherlock Holmes of developers. It first occurred to him he might have a future in software engineering, when he was doing code challenges for fun. His focus is on IronXL and IronBarcode, but he takes pride in helping customers with every product. Chaknith leverages his knowledge from talking directly with customers, to help further improve the products themselves. His anecdotal feedback goes beyond Jira tickets and supports product development, documentation and marketing, to improve customer’s overall experience.When he isn’t in the office, he can be found learning about machine learning, coding and hiking.